The Yule Ball
by Stars and Stripes
Summary: This is a one-shot of the Yule Ball in Ron Weasley's point of view. Read about Ron's take on the unlikely match-up of Viktor Krum and Hermione Granger during their fourth year at Hogwarts. Please read and review!


**Hi, everyone! This is just a one-shot of Ron's point of view during the Yule Ball in their fourth year. Hope you like it! Please read and review! Reviews make an author very happy (: Admittedly, I used J.K. Rowling's dialogue for extra accuracy. Most of the dialogue is not mine!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. :(**

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Ron's jaw dropped. She was…gorgeous. Everything was perfect, from her recently-corrected, toothy smile to the confident air around her. He watched, dumbfounded as Hermione glided in her blue robes to the top table for the beginning of the Yule Ball. When she passed him by, it took all the concentration he could muster to keep himself planted next to Padma, and not to run after her. It only just hit him that the reason she was walking down the icy path was because she was linking arms with none other than Viktor Krum.

His teeth ground together and a fire ignited somewhere deep within him. He wasn't used to these feelings, but he let them take him over, allowing his eyes to narrow and a frown to spread across his lips.

Tearing his eyes away from the unlikely couple and snatching up the menu carefully placed atop his golden dish, Ron angrily muttered, "Steak!" Like magic, steak appeared before him instantly. In the back of his mind, Ron remembered how Hermione always got upset whenever he took for granted what the elves did for them, but now, he didn't care. Throwing proper table manners to the wind, he tossed his napkin to the ground and picked up the entire steak with his fork without cutting it first. Padma looked utterly disgusted and embarrassed as others started to stare at him in disbelief. Ron ignored them and glanced over at top table where all the champions and their dates sat.

Hermione and Krum were in deep conversation; Krum talking animatedly with his hands, and Hermione listening intently. Ron grunted his disapproval and took another large bite of steak before returning his glare on them.

Padma leaned in to whisper in his ear, "You're behaving like an over-starved Blast-Ended Skrewt! People are staring!"

Ron rolled his eyes and didn't look at her, but fixed his gaze on the back of Viktor Krum's head. He took the last bite of his meal and wiped his dirty face with his neighbor, Neville's, napkin, never taking his eyes off of the two of them. Anger was slowly bubbling its way to the surface inside of him, and he was having more and more trouble controlling it. Was he imagining it, or was she leaning in closer?

"When is this over, again?" Ron asked Padma rather loudly.

She frowned and said, "Whenever you're ready for it to be." She crossed her arms and turned to talk to Lavender Brown.

"I'm ready now," he muttered. Ron drummed his fingers on the icy encrusted table and tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the rest of the guests to conclude their meals.

The golden rimmed plates vanished before their eyes. He saw Dumbledore rise from his seat and twirl his wand deftly, sending the tables soaring toward the walls. The floor was cleared for dancing and the Weird Sisters mounted the stage, about to begin their first piece.

The champions rose together and took their places on the dance floor to lead the show. Ron watched fixedly as Krum gently positioned his hand on the small of Hermione's back. How dare him! He was definitely too old for her. Why had he felt the sudden need to protect her?

They swayed easily to the familiar tune and Ron itched to just wrench them apart. The only thing that kept him there was the fact that that beautiful grin never faltered from her face. She was enjoying herself. To his side, he felt rude glares boring into him from where Padma was sitting, but he continued to ignore him.

The song ended but they didn't leave the floor. A more upbeat song began, and Hermione's face lit up brighter. This was one of the very few wizarding songs she knew. Ron knew because he and told her about it. Vaguely, he noticed Harry seat himself next to him. "How's it going?" he asked him.

Ron didn't hear him. He watched them spin and bounce in a blur of color and happiness. He would have given anything to be in Krum's place at the moment. He couldn't even remember the time when he had actually liked Viktor.

The song, again, came to a close, and to Ron's delight, Hermione and Krum brought their dancing to a halt. Krum began to walk in another direction, and Hermione floated toward them, cheeks flushed.

Harry greeted her as she sat in his date's empty seat. Ron, however, fixed his gaze upon something else.

Hermione ignored his rudeness. "It's hot, isn't it?" she said, using her hand as a fan. "Viktor's just gone to get some drinks."

By the way she said his name, Ron could tell she admired him in some way. That was too much for him. Anger formed itself into words as they poured from his mouth uncontrollably. "_Viktor_? Hasn't he asked you to call him _Vicky_ yet?"

He didn't care that his words might have hurt her, he was glad he said them. A childish feeling of satisfaction filled his chest. She blinked at him, and her mouth parted in surprise. "What's up with you?" she asked, concerned.

"If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you," Ron said, mysteriously. How could she not see that he was dangerous and that she shouldn't be prancing around like a naïve baby bunny with a hungry hawk. And Ron didn't mean hungry for food.

Hermione gave him and Harry a confused look. Harry just shrugged. "Ron, what - ?"

"He's from Durmstrang!" Ron shouted at her. Of course, Ron didn't care where Krum went to school but he couldn't find another reason to blame him for doing something wrong. He wasn't going to admit that he was jealous. Ron Weasley jealous? Never. "He's competing against Harry!" Now Ron was just making things up as he went along. "Against Hogwarts! You – you're – " He searched for the right words to fill his accusation, "_fraternizing with the enemy_, that's what you're doing!" Yeah, that's it.

Hermione didn't know what to say at first, but after a minute, she came to Krum's defense. "Don't be so stupid! The enemy! Honestly – who was the one who was all excited when they saw him arrive? Who was the one who wanted his autograph? Who's got a model of him up in their dormitory?"

Ron narrowed his eyes, but barely listened to a word she said. He obviously could never have liked this ugly buffoon who took his best friend away from him against her will. Ron was still convinced that she wasn't actually doing this because she wanted to. She had to have been bribed or tricked, or – did he dare think it? – threatened. He wasn't even good-looking! Even Harry could vouch for that statement. "I s'pose he asked you to come with him while you were both in the library?"

Hermione flushed, but she stated defiantly, "Yes, he did. So what?"

Another idea popped into Ron's head. "What happened – trying to get him to join _SPEW_, were you?" Maybe she had tricked him.

"No, I wasn't! If you _really_ want to know, he – he said he'd been coming up to the library every day to try and talk to me, but he hadn't been able to pluck up the courage!" What a load of rubbish! Ron could hardly see national Quidditch star, Viktor Krum be such a softy for underage girls. No, he didn't believe it.

"Yeah, well – that's his story," Ron grunted, rudely. He would never say that he actually felt the same way. He always thought that because most people saw her as a stuck-up know-it-all, and everyone saw him as the poor ginger who wasn't even good enough for a new pair of dress robes, that they would have defaulted together for the Yule Ball. He had always thought that he would have been the luckiest guy on the dance floor to be holding her in his arms. Perhaps he wasn't the only one who had noticed her hidden beauty.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" she demanded angrily. He had almost forgot he had been mad at her – or, at least at the situation.

"Obvious, isn't it?" He decided to roll with his earlier accusation. "He's Karkaroff's student, isn't he? He knows who you hang around with… He's just trying to get closer to Harry – get inside information on him – or get near enough to jinx him – "

Maybe he had gone too far? Her anger had shown clear in her eyes and her cheeks turned a deeper shade of red. Harry shrunk further away from the shouts since he was seated so inopportunely between them. Hermione's voice faltered slightly when she said, "For you information, he hasn't asked me _one single thing_ about Harry, not one – "

Bloody hell, there goes that plan. He shifted his line of fire only slightly. "Then he's hoping you'll help him find out what his egg means! I suppose you've been putting your heads together during those cozy little library sessions – "

"I'd _never_ help him work out that egg!" she claimed, confidently. "_Never_. How could you say something like that – " Yup, definitely too far, "I want Harry to win the tournament, Harry knows that, don't you, Harry?"

Ron's rage was now beyond what it ever was. He glared at Harry, expecting him to be on his side but saw him nod fervently in her direction. Fine. "You've got a funny way of showing it." His comment lingered in the air between them for a moment while they stared at each other with narrowed eyes.

Hermione broke the silence. "This whole tournament's supposed to be about getting to know foreign wizards and making friends with them!"

"No, it isn't! It's about winning!" Ron said, too quickly. He was just looking for away to prove her wrong at the point. He hated when she was right, and that was much too often.

Passersby started to whisper to one another and stared at their heated conversation. Neither partaker noticed, but Harry was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable. He cleared his throat and said, "Ron, I haven't got a problem with Hermione coming with Krum – "

At first, Ron was outraged with Harry for not taking his side. Krum was way too old for her! As her best friends, it was their job to protect her – more of his job though. But Ron didn't want to bring Harry into the discussion, so he ignored his disloyal comment.

"Why don't you go and find Vicky, he'll be wondering where you are," Ron spat at Hermione. Now, he barely cared what she did. If she didn't want his opinion, than fine. She didn't have to take it.

"_Don't call him Vicky_!" she shrieked. Her eyes were filled with as much maliciousness that they almost matched the color red of her cheeks. Hermione strode away, not wanting Ron to be satisfied with being able to get her angry. Yet, he was. At least, a little bit. A watched her jump back into the flow of people. Part of him wanted to run after her and apologize, but his over-confident dignity held him rooted to the spot. He clenched his fists to stem the constant torrent of anger that ran in his veins.

A nagging voice he only just recognized as Padma's said, "Are you going to ask me to dance at all?"

"No," he barked at her, not looking away from the place where Hermione had just disappeared.

"Fine." She walked in the same direction Hermione had toward the pulsating floor and joined her sister.

Just then, the man of the hour, Viktor Krum, appeared before them, holding butterbeers for himself and Hermione. "Vare is Herm-own-ninny?"

Ron wanted to punch him in the jaw. He wouldn't have time to protect himself and his ugly expression that he always seemed to have with him might actually be corrected by the impact. He couldn't even say her name right!

Ron held his fists obediently at his sides and grumbled, "No idea." He added, rather rudely, "Lost her, have you?"

Krum gave him a look of confusion and self-righteousness. Arrogant, little git. "Vell, if you see her, tell her I haff drinks."

As he departed, Percy Weasley and Ludo Bagman shuffled their way over, mostly to see Harry. Percy addressed Ron, but he wasn't listening. Not in the slightest. He heard the humming of Ludo and Percy talking politely to one another, and figured that was their chance to escape. "Let's go for a walk…get away from Percy…"

The two of them left the Great Hall happily and went out into the chilly night air. Ron wasn't sure if he was angry with himself or happy that he had put Hermione in her place. He never wanted to hurt her feelings, but that was the only way for him to tell her that Krum didn't deserve her. She was too good for him but he realized a little too late that that wasn't what it sounded like he was trying to say when he did. And besides, this was all her fault. If she hadn't been so bloody stunning, Ron wouldn't have had to stick up for her in the first place.

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